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It's disappointing that the situation with Canadian feeds is no better this season. Not only are there very few HD feeds but there's also a shortage of dual SD feeds. My suspicions that TSN and LeafsTV feeds would only be used as a last resort appears to be coming to pass. The Leafs play the Penguins and Islanders this week and there are no dual feeds.

For Saturday there's only one early HNIC game and it's on the NHL Network, although whether or not they'll pick up the intermission features remains to be seen. Then, the late game, at least so far isn't on the schedule at all. I'm not too worried about this....yet.

I don't think any of us should be surprised by this, but it is disappointing.

TSN is the one that baffles me. I can absolutely understand them not going to the trouble to carry regional LeafsTV streams (given that it shows a very limited number of games) or even regional TSN-JETS feeds, but games on TSN's national feed in Canada seem like a no brainer.

I'm sure NHL Network will show the full HNIC show - they always have in the past. And as you said, the late game will likely appear on Ch 769 which is still an empty spot in the schedule.

Or does anyone have a good contact or connection to someone with some influence at DirecTV that we could direct our comments to? I've tried to compalin about the lack of Canadian feeds to DirecTV multiple times, and I never manage to get very far beyond the front-line reps who always give me a canned response about "DirecTV being the leader in sports"

I'd happily write a letter or an e-mail if I knew where to send it to give my feedback.

I can't find an e-mail address, but old fashioned mail could never hurt. Maybe all of us passionate hockey fans could try writing Mr. Dan York, Chief Content Officer, with some polite but clear feedback on the importance of dual feeds and HD feeds from Canada for sports

TSN is the one that baffles me. I can absolutely understand them not going to the trouble to carry regional LeafsTV streams (given that it shows a very limited number of games) or even regional TSN-JETS feeds, but games on TSN's national feed in Canada seem like a no brainer.

Directv only has the agreement with SportsNet Ontario/ONE because of the MLB Extra Innings requirements to carry all team game broadcasts in HD.

Since Directv inked the contract to meet the MLB:EI requirements, NHL:CI gets the bonus of the Leafs games covered on SportsNet.

Unless the league requires it, I just don't see Directv spending the significant dollars that would be required to ink a contract to cover the other Canadian networks.

TSN is the one that baffles me. I can absolutely understand them not going to the trouble to carry regional LeafsTV streams (given that it shows a very limited number of games) or even regional TSN-JETS feeds, but games on TSN's national feed in Canada seem like a no brainer.

I'm sure NHL Network will show the full HNIC show - they always have in the past. And as you said, the late game will likely appear on Ch 769 which is still an empty spot in the schedule.

I agree the abscence of national TSN feeds are strange but this is nothing new. As for Leafs TV, they are showing 10 games this year and both the Regional TSN feeds for Montreal and Winnipeg are showing the bulk of their respective teams games. What's frustrating is that, at least in past years, there have been more Canadian SD feeds in the Dish and InDemand packages. I don't know about this year, because I haven't been able to find Dish or InDemand schedules.

I would agree with you, but I have a hard time reconciling the lack of Canadian HD when compared with D*'s ability to:

A) show 125 Super 15 Rugby games from the southern hemisphere in pristene HD and show all the non-Fox Champions League / Europa League matches

And both are included in your subscription at no additional charge.

I know it's apples / oranges and the transmissions / costs are different, but it should not be that hard to add more HD to CI.

And I'll ask the reverse of your question...

If D* charged $10 or $15 more for CI, and ALL Canadian games were HD, would they lose any subscribers? I know I'd pay.

Cheers,cmasia

If they were to do that, would folks here stop calling up bitching and complaining trying to get it free or discounted. until that stops, they can raise the price now and it won't matter. I am wondering if this package makes any money.

And i dont know about the rugby, but the champions and europa games are a ton more popular than hockey is. Those games are streamed online for free anyway and they are just picking up that feed anyway. Probably doesnt cost them very much if anything and the international subscriptions that they get makes up for it.

I would agree with you, but I have a hard time reconciling the lack of Canadian HD when compared with D*'s ability to:

A) show 125 Super 15 Rugby games from the southern hemisphere in pristene HD and show all the non-Fox Champions League / Europa League matches

And both are included in your subscription at no additional charge.

The TV contracts to cover those games are a pittance when compared to major North American sports leagues. If the networks broadcasting those games had to recoup several hundred million dollars worth of exclusivity rights fees, you can bet you wouldn't see these games on Directv unless there was substantial demand.

If D* charged $10 or $15 more for CI, and ALL Canadian games were HD, would they lose any subscribers? I know I'd pay.

If you're willing to throw some dollars at the problem, you have 2 options immediately available:

1) Get a subscription to Shaw Direct to get Canadian TV directly. Of course, you'll have to pay for Center Ice a second time to get all the Canadian team games. You'll also have to either get the Quebec subscription or pay extra for RDS to get the Habs games. Once you do this, you'll still have to keep Directv because the HD coverage of US teams is abysmal in Canada.

2) Get a Roku box and a GameCenter Live subscription. While not perfect, the HD feeds from GCL are quite a bit better than the SD feeds on Center Ice. They are, however, still a downgrade from the CI HD feeds because the framerate is lower resulting in less fluid video. After years of paying for the StarChoice/Shaw Direct subscription to get the Canadian HD broadcasts, I've started doing this in the last couple years.

In an ideal world you wouldn't have to get a 2nd package, but the reality is there just aren't enough people in the US who care to make it worthwhile for MSOs.